Ropey battery life is one of the complaints most regularly thrown at Apple's iPhone, and while the line has improved in this respect in recent times, many still long for a full day's unrestricted use before being tethered to a plug socket. Apple's rumoured latest purchase may address that problem for the iPhone 6.

According to Japanese daily Nikkei, the Cupertino company is looking to make a majority buyout of Renesas SP Drivers, taking over Renesas Electronic's 55 per cent stake in a 50 billion yen (£290 million) deal. A joint venture between Sharp and Powerchip, Renesas SP Drivers is responsible for one-third of the market for LCD drivers and controllers and is focussing on low power components that can drive advanced mobile displays. Renesas SP Drivers already provides the LCD driver chips for the entire iPhone line.

Other recent rumours have pointed towards Apple considering larger screen sizes for the iPhone line this generation. While a bigger screen would require a larger chassis, potentially leaving room for a more capacious battery, an expanded display would still be a considerable drain on power reserves. Investing more heavily in a low-power chip maker could help squeeze more juice out of the next-gen devices despite the inclusion of other more power-hungry components. [Nikkei via TechRadar]